


You make me smile

by mysonny (orphan_account)



Category: Women's Soccer RPF
Genre: Cuddling & Snuggling, Established Relationship, F/F, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-10
Updated: 2020-02-10
Packaged: 2021-02-28 02:00:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,070
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22655893
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/mysonny
Summary: "Emily has a look of pure happiness on her face and Lindsey’s heart almost bursts at that."ORI saw them celebrating their Concacaf victory with that hand placement and couldn't help myself.
Relationships: Lindsey Horan/Emily Sonnett
Comments: 6
Kudos: 95





	You make me smile

**Author's Note:**

> English isn't my first language, please excuse any mistakes!

They weren’t really trying to be subtle anymore. Throughout the whole Olympic qualifying tournament, there were many pictures taken of them together. In a lot of them they are holding hands or are touching in some other form. Their teammates had teased them relentlessly about those pictures. But they really didn’t care how it looked. They were just happy to be there together.

They had talked about going public with their relationship at some point in the future but with the focus on so many other people and relationships in the team, they were able to mostly fly under the radar without trying too hard. And even with those new pictures, it seemed to stay that way for now.

-

Emily and Lindsey both get the start at the final against Canada. They have a difficult first hour or so. Sonnett has to make some slide tackles to prevent the Canadians from creating chances. The midfield and forwards can’t seem to connect like they should and on top of that Canada’s defense does a good job at intercepting almost every pass they try. Lindsey really tries her best but often there is no one to pass to up front. After they score the first goal, Canada has to open up their defense which leaves more room for Lindsey and the rest. Lindsey also switches sides and plays now in front of Emily. They manage to get some good one-two’s and other connections between them, they just always seem to know where the other one is on the field.

And then Lindsey scores her sixth goal of the tournament and is on top of the world. Emily stays a bit in the background for the celebrations and lets their teammates surround and celebrate her girlfriend. Lets her have her moment.

-

They stay close to each other after the game ends, not even talking all the time, just always within reach, always gravitating back to one another. Emily talks with Rose most of the time and they also start dancing at some point. Every now and then she looks over to Lindsey who is talking to Kelley and Abby and sends her a soft smile. Those smiles always get rewarded with a smile in return. Lindsey’s dimples, that she loves so much, are showing every time and sometimes Lindsey even sends her a little wink. She can’t wait to properly hug and kiss her later.

Lindsey makes sure that they are behind each other when they get in line to get the medals, so that she has her girlfriend next to her for the celebrations with the trophy.

And then Emily really can’t help herself any longer. After the tournament Lindsey had, the tournament they both had, she just wants to hold her girlfriend’s hand while they are celebrating the victory of the Concacaf tournament. So, she does exactly that. They are all jumping up and down, confetti surrounding them and she just gabs Lindsey’s hand and puts it in her own. Or tries to at least, her hands too small to actually put the other girls hand in hers. She squeezes Lindsey’s hand quickly and hopes that she understands everything she wants to say with that little gesture. How proud she is. But also, how thankful she is that Lindsey always believes in her more than she does herself. How happy she is that they are experiencing this together. And how much she loves her. Then they are laughing together at Lindsey’s medal flying all around her, letting go of each other’s hands, basking in the joy of the victory.

Lindsey watches Emily while they are celebrating. Emily has a look of pure happiness on her face and Lindsey’s heart almost bursts at that. Emily had been so afraid to be cut off this roster and Lindsey had done everything she could to make her see what she sees in her. Emily magnifies each mistake she makes in her head and doesn’t always see the good decisions she also makes throughout a game. She will think about one little mistake for days but won’t take each saving slide-tackle into account. After every practice and every game Lindsey makes it her mission to make Emily see herself through her eyes. To make her see how good she is, what she brings to the team. Right now, Emily seems so overjoyed that Lindsey feels like maybe she believes in herself a little more after this tournament. After all, she had stayed on the roster, she had played a lot of minutes and she had played exceptionally well. This look of joy on Emily’s face spreads warmth through Lindsey’s whole body.

Kelley calls them out from behind for the handholding “Subtle, Sonnett. Very subtle.” Emily just laughs even more and shrugs “I don’t really care, Kel”. Lindsey only shakes her head and smiles at both of them.

Lindsey still stands in-between Emily and Rose for the team picture afterwards. She wants to reach out to her girlfriend so badly, wants her as close as possible, wants to experience everything together. The short handholding wasn’t enough for her and it also gave her a taste of how good it feels to share those moments. She’s just not as bold as Emily. But since they are standing in the front line for the picture they have to crouch down a bit which gives her the welcomed excuse to put her hands on Emily’s and Rose’s knees. Rose seems a bit surprised at first but then laughs at her and lightly rests her hand on Lindsey’s knee in return.

Emily is a different story. She looks at the hand sitting firmly on her knee, takes it as an invitation, and puts her hand on Lindsey’s thigh. Not too high but high enough to give someone the right impression if they were looking for signs. It’s exactly the reaction Lindsey had unknowingly hoped for. They pose side by side for the pictures, both with wide grins on their faces. Emily likes to put her hand on Lindsey’s thigh like that. It somehow makes her feel like the protector for once. Usually Lindsey is the more possessive and protective one who’d put her hand on her girlfriend’s thigh or the small of her back. To have these roles reversed right now feels good to Emily, like she is taking care of Lindsey. She strokes the soft skin with her thumb and can feel Lindsey shiver a bit under her hand.

-

When they get back from the stadium, most of them go out for dinner. Ali and Ash are off to some Oscars party so they don’t join them, everyone else goes together though. They go to a bar for a couple of drinks afterwards, enjoying some off-time as a team. Lindsey is sitting in a booth and talks with Tobin, Kelley, and a couple of the others around them. Emily runs off with Rose, learning some new dance move. They then try to teach Sam that move, too, it doesn’t go that well. Lindsey can hear Emily laughing from the other end of the room and watches her girlfriend making a fool out of herself to get their friends to laugh. She softly smiles at Emily’s silly dancing and stupid jokes.

“It’s rude to stare, you know that, don’t you?” Tobin interrupts her thoughts and slaps her lightly on the back of her head.

She turns to Tobin, one eyebrow risen “It’s also rude to make fun of someone and then to slap them on top of that!”

“It’s just easy to mess with you” Tobin replies with a wide grin. She nudges her with her shoulder to get her to talk.

“I’m just so content and happy right now. I had a very good tournament and that’s so important to me, you know that. But Emily was so worried beforehand and then she went on and had such a great tournament as well. And now she is just over there goofing around with our friends. She finally seems a bit carefree again. Not so much in her head anymore. She always looked so worried when she was starting these last couple of days and I know she wasn’t sleeping all that well, so to see her like this just feels really good, you know?” she ducks her head, blushing at her own statement. She’s still staring at Emily, who seems to feel her eyes on her because she turns around, catches Lindsey’s gaze, and sends her the biggest smile and a wink for good measure.

“Aww. Linds, that was so cute. It’s the best feeling to see the people you love succeed at something they’re passionate about, isn’t it?” Kelley tunes in to their conversation.

“Yeah... And she deserves all of it.”

Emily comes over to their table soon afterwards and shoves Kelley to the side to plant herself right next to Lindsey. Lindsey turns her head in greeting which gives Emily the opportunity to kiss her quickly.

She listens to the conversations going on around her. Kelley telling Tobin and Lindsey about her upcoming short vacation with her girlfriend, Becky and Alyssa deep in conversation about some book they’ve both read. She lifts Lindsey’s arm to be able to cuddle in her side and put her head on her shoulder. Emily feels Lindsey absentmindedly playing with the baby hair in the back of her neck, sometimes also scratching her behind her ear. It makes her sleepy.

She pokes Lindsey in her side but that doesn’t get a reaction out of her. So, she lifts her head to peck her cheek a couple of times and hopefully gain her attention this way. Lindsey giggles and turns around at that.

“Babe, did you want something?” she asks with a warm smile.

“Yes, can we go back to the Hotel? I’m getting tired.”

“Probably from all the terrible dancing, Sonnett!” Kelley interrupts them and laughs at her.

“Or maybe because she played a full 90 today?” Lindsey sticks her tongue out at Kelley jokingly “I’ll get us an Uber.”

-

Emily barely stays awake during the Uber ride. She rests her head on Lindsey’s shoulder again, her hands covering Lindsey’s hand on her thigh.

“Em, don’t fall asleep, we’re almost at the Hotel.” Lindsey squeezes her thigh as she whispers in her ear. “You can sleep as soon as we get back, okay? Come on, open your eyes, baby.”

She reluctantly opens her eyes and sits up a little straighter in an effort to stay awake.

As much as Lindsey liked having Kelley as her roommate in Houston, she is thankful that they got new roommates when they got to LA. Now her roommate is Emily. She doesn’t know how they got so lucky but she also doesn’t question their decision to put them together.

As soon as they get back to their room, Emily falls face first onto their bed

“I’m not getting up again, I’ll just sleep in my clothes like this.” Lindsey hears her muffled voice, she laughs at her “Come on, just brush your teeth and then we’ll get you to bed.”

Emily rolls over and pouts at Lindsey “You said I could sleep as soon as we get back. Now we are back!”

Lindsey’s chuckles at her girlfriend’s antics while taking her clothes off. She smiles lovingly at Emily and slightly pushes her foot “Come on, move it. I’m not cuddling with you if you still have those clothes on.” Emily’s eyes shoot open at that and she practically runs to the bathroom.

“Now, we can’t have that, can we?”

-

When Lindsey joins Emily in bed she is convinced that Emily has already fallen asleep. She gets under the covers and is surprised by Emily who had waited for her to get comfortable and now practically melts into her side.

“Hey, you’re still awake. I took forever, I thought for sure you’d be asleep by now.” She smiles at Emily and kisses her on the forehead.

“Wanted to wait for you. To cuddle.” Emily mutters sleepily. “Since you promised and all.”

Lindsey laughs lightly “Of course you did. I’m here now, you can finally sleep.”

Emily takes a deep breath and soon after her breath evens out. She finally seems to be asleep. Her breathing lulls Lindsey, too, until “Linds?”

“Hmm?”

“I love you.”

“I love you, too. Now go to sleep.” She pulls Emily even closer.

**Author's Note:**

> I really couldn't help myself but had to write something when I saw them celebrating and then when I saw the pictures of the hand-holding and the hand placement that urge got only bigger.


End file.
